Navigating the Roadblocks

Clark Doan of Tennessee Genealogical Society gave a wonderful interactive lecture on Navigating Roadblocks. With his permission, I want to share with you some of the things discussed that night. He put us into groups and each of us was given a question to answer. Below are the questions and some of the replies each group gave. See what you might can add to these lists!

PART ONE: “Thorough County Research”

In the damaged county, what are some things you need to know before you start?

What was NOT destroyed?

Were there other records?

When was the county formed?

When was the county formed?

Where were they BEFORE this county?

Where are the surviving records stored?

DATE of loss?

What WAS destroyed?

What other things might you explore?

Cemeteries

Church, school and WPA records

Were any records reconstituted?

Were records were transcribed?

Were records abstracted?

Family histories

Local historians

Early newspapers

PART TWO: “State and National Records” What possible records might you find regarding your county in the State Archives?